It's only been a few months since we talked about the last new D-SLR from Nikon. Back in September, Nikon unveiled a new D600 D-SLR camera, and today the company is back with the D5200.

The D5200 has a 24.1-megapixel imaging sensor and is capable of shooting high-quality digital images and recording full HD resolution movies. The camera also uses the new Nikon EXPEED 3 image processor promising high-speed operation and rich color reproduction along with enhanced movie recording capabilities.

The camera supports an ISO range of 100-6400 that can be extended to 25,600. The D5200 has the same autofocus system (39-points and nine cross-type sensors), metering sensor, and scene recognition capabilities of the high-end Nikon D7000. The camera features a three-inch vari-angle LCD that can be swiveled for comfort no matter what position you're taking images in.

The D5200 also supports wireless connectivity with Apple or Android smartphones using an optional wireless mobile adapter, and it can geo-tag images when used with the optional GPS unit.

Marina Gurevich, Product Manager for Nikon Europe, says, “The inspiring Nikon D5200 is ideal for those who are passionate about photography and want to experiment with the camera’s superior features. The impressive image and movie quality alongside a versatile vari-angle LCD monitor lets users unlock their creative potential.”

Oh, come on! You complain about a DSLR with an APS-C sensor getting 24 Mp? Do you realize that compact camera's sensors are THIRTEEN TIMES smaller than an APS-C sensor, yet they routinely get 14, 16 and even 18 Mp? Now, THAT is real insanity.

quote: But DSLRs are meant for more serious shooters, that's what bothers me.

I don't think it should bother you that they're trying to remove the sensor as a bottleneck. What, you're worried about running out of hard drive space? Really?

You talk about "lower noise", yet the prevailing trend we've seen has involved pixel counts increasing and high-ISO noise decreasing. I just don't see it. Take the D800 and reduce resolution to match the D700 and the former wins. With a lesser resolutions, each dot of noise is a greater percentage of the overall image.

i don't get what you are saying. i am an amateur only (with a sony A35), but from how i understand it

more sensor area per pixel = more light information per pixel

which in turn means better colors and higher precision images. cramming more pixels onto the same sensor means lower fidelity per pixel. so unless nikon has magically found a way to increase fidelity without increasing sensor size, images produced by this camera may have more noise than ones produced by its predecessor. if this weren't the case, it would not be necessary to develop larger sensors for professional cameras as they could all use small ones without any penalty in image quality.

quote: images produced by this camera may have more noise than ones produced by its predecessor.

But that hasn't borne out. The D1 had like a 2.5 megapixel sensor; according to the conventional wisdom that thing should just be a low-light monster. But it isn't.

ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL, a larger photosite will collect more information than a smaller photosite, true. But the actual collection of photons is just one part of the whole process. Turning those photons into electrons requires good sensor tech, turning those electrons into image data requires good processing power. The balance in the entire overall system affects the final outcome, not any one single trait.

"Noise" in digital imaging is just an incorrect read from the sensor, and this happens when the processor behind the sensor makes a bad guess as to the pixel's actual value. Fewer pixels means the impact of a bad guess is exacerbated to a greater degree; more pixels means that, at equivalent print/viewing sizes, each individual bad guess is a smaller part of the entire picture.

So a camera with more pixels may be "just as noisy" or even "more noisy" than a camera with fewer pixels, but the noise itself is less coarse, less damaging to fine detail, which may result in the appearance of less image degradation. This certainly isn't absolute, and there will definitely be a wall at some point where it makes less sense to up the pixel count, but... like I said earlier, just look at history: Pixel count has steadily increased, high ISO noise has steadily decreased.

As for the 16 megapixel D4: Not all of the choices regarding pixel count are just for noise concerns. The lower pixel count of the D4 allows it to have a much higher framerate, as it's simply moving fewer pixels per image.

quote: But that hasn't borne out. The D1 had like a 2.5 megapixel sensor; according to the conventional wisdom that thing should just be a low-light monster. But it isn't.

Let me stop you right there. The D1 isn't a low-light monster because it doesn't incorporate all the advances made since its introduction. If you built a 2.5MP APS-C sensor with the technology of today, it would fare much, much better in low light.

Furthermore, noise is not just bad readings. It's also the effect of amplification needed when a smaller sensor doesn't get enough light - which is what invariably happens when you make increasingly smaller sensors. And don't get me started on how the blue channel shows noise even at ISO 200 :-D

quote: The D1 isn't a low-light monster because it doesn't incorporate all the advances made since its introduction.

EXACTLY. It's not just a matter of photosite size. The improvements in sensor production and the back-end processing is what explains why pixels have gotten smaller but noise has steadily improved.

quote: If you built a 2.5MP APS-C sensor with the technology of today, it would fare much, much better in low light.

I keep hearing that assertion, but until somebody actually does it, we have no idea. And it's probably going to be a while until someone tries it; the camera world has a lot of stagnation going on, and the big makers seem unwilling to push the envelope very much. All the design decisions seem to revolve around pushing more cameras on more people, which means niche desires - like your low-MP, high-ISO sensitivity sensor, or others that would love to see a natively monochrome sensor - don't get nearly the amount of love they need.